Das Buch Der Verborgenen Wünsche (2013) - Plot & Excerpts
The first thing to say is the cover of this book totally threw me, I was expecting the usual chick lit girl meets boy story, what I got was so much more.The beginning felt very Poirotesque, the main characters introduced to us in a rambling beach house in Cornwall at a funeral with talk of a mysterious death many decades before. We are then spirited back to 1963 via 'Cecily's diary', this part of the book felt like a grown up 'Famous Five' and I almost expected lashings of ginger beer at the part where the characters have a picnic on the beach. But of course, this isn't an Enid Blyton story, it's a dark tale of family secrets, discovering what you once thought was the truth was actually anything but.No spoilers, but suffice to say, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which is the first I've read of Harriet Evans and I will be reading more This novel was a lot less fluffy than Evans' previous books. I wouldn't classify this one as chick lit. It's a bit of a family saga, which is not my thing, so I got bored halfway through but was glad I kept reading. The thing is, there are so many parallels with my own family that it was a bit eerie. Of course this story had far more drama, but the race issues (for the children of the white British woman and her Indian husband) were familiar as were some of the other little details. So I felt like I had to like this book because I'd never actually read a story about a 1/4 Indian girl like me before. I don't know if it will be memorable a few years on, but I will continue to read Harriet Evans books and am happy about this new direction she is taking.
What do You think about Das Buch Der Verborgenen Wünsche (2013)?
thought this was very good --- im in a british chik lit kick right now!
—Danielon
Pure escapism...perfect..I must start writing a diary!
—sambutler94
